Hardware virtualization allows for multiple machines to execute as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine. Generally, operating systems require a periodic interrupt source, referred to as timer ticks, to drive their internal clocks and these timer ticks generate interrupts that are handled by a processor. When there are more virtual machines executing on a computer the number of interrupts that need to be generated linearly increases. The emergent behavior is that the processor will be interrupted more often an have less opportunities to enter a low power mode. Accordingly, techniques for allowing a processor to remain in an idle mode for a longer period of time while still providing timer ticks are desirable.